Featured commentary and analysis

Timely Commentary & Analysis

Capacity Building Initiative Jan 13, 2020

Cyber 9/12: Education and innovation on a global scale

By Will Loomis

One of the most important barriers to robust global cybersecurity is the shortage of capable individuals in the workforce pipeline. By 2021, predictions suggest that the world will have more than 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs, with both the private and public sectors facing hiring shortages. While the United States has budding international relations, cybersecurity, and IT-focused academic programs, very little has been done to address the interaction between them, which will be crucial for the success of future cybersecurity professionals.
Cybersecurity
Timely Commentary & Analysis

Conflict, Risk, and Tech Oct 28, 2019

The zero-day war? How cyber is reshaping the future of the most combustible conflicts

By Simon Handler

Conventional wisdom would suggest that scaled-up capabilities, growing competition, and the proliferation of malware across cyberspace presents a legitimate risk of escalation in state conflict, transcending the cyber domain toward the kinetic. However, recent history has shown that states have more often availed themselves of their offensive cyber arsenals to achieve surprisingly de-escalatory effects.
Cybersecurity Iran
Timely Commentary & Analysis

New Atlanticist Oct 9, 2019

How governments can use cyber tools irresponsibly to preserve power

By Safa Shahwan

The Kazakh case serves as an example of irresponsible cyber statecraft, when governments use cyberspace and technological tools to achieve specific political goals, placing the rights of citizens, as well as their political legitimacy, on the line.

Central Asia Cybersecurity

All timely commentary & analysis

Event Recap

Aug 10, 2016

At Cybersecurity Gatherings, A Thaw Between Feds and Hackers

By Jeff Stone, Passcode

At an Atlantic Council event this week, cybersecurity researchers and experts said last week’s Black Hat and DEF CON conferences showed that Washington is working harder to build better relations with the hacker community.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Cyber Risk Wednesdays

Jul 25, 2016

Cyber Risk Thursday: Online Communities and the Future of National Security

By Divya Sahni

On July 14, the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative gathered a group of experts to seek answers to these questions. The panel brought together Leo Blanken, an associate professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate school, Jasmine El-Gamal, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Charley Snyder, senior cyber policy adviser at the US Department of Defense, and Katie Moussouris, private consultant for bug bounty programs for a discussion moderated by the Atlantic Council’s Beau Woods.

Cybersecurity

Event Recap

Jun 6, 2016

Building Trust and Consensus as Internet Governance Goes Global

By Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security

On June 6, 2016, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative hosted a roundtable with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and RiceHadleyGates on the privatization of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The discussion, moderated by Mr. Neal Pollard, Director at PwC and Nonresident Senior Fellow […]

Event Recap

May 31, 2016

Europe in Cyber Crisis: Mitigating and Preventing Attacks through Interagency Cooperation

By Kathryn Taylor

Hospitals across Europe were crippled when the computer technology in various systems failed. Was it directed by a nation-state, a new type of adversarial attack, or an unintended consequence of our growing dependence on connected technologies? How do various European governments, private sector, and international institutions react in any of these situations? These were some of the policy questions posed in one scenario of a tabletop exercise hosted by the Atlantic Council and Microsoft on May 31, 2016 at the Microsoft Center in Brussels, Belgium.

Cybersecurity

Event Recap

May 27, 2016

Regulators Look for Role in the Internet of Things

By CSM Passcode and Jack Detsch

With more than 20 billion devices getting hooked up to the Internet by 2020, the US government could play a big role in creating rules to eliminate software vulnerabilities in those products. But regulating the potentially $19 trillion so-called Internet of Things (IoT) industry won’t be easy. Officials won’t just need to develop rules for products […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

In the News

May 25, 2016

Corman Testifies Before House Energy and Commerce Committee on Examining Cybersecurity Responsibilities at HHS

By Joshua Corman

Read the full article here.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Event Recap

Apr 21, 2016

Did Ukraine Power Grid Hack Give Russia an Edge?

By CSM Passcode and Jack Detsch

At an Atlantic Council event Thursday, experts said that a Ukrainian power outage allegedly triggered by Russian hackers may be just a small piece of Moscow’s cybersecurity strategy. If Russian hackers did shut down swaths of Ukraine’s power grid last year, as US officials have claimed, it may be just one piece of Moscow’s strategy […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Cyber 9/12 Project

Apr 8, 2016

The 2016 European Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge

By Cyber Statecraft Initiative

The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), hosted the second annual European Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge in Geneva, Switzerland on April 7-8, 2016. The competition brought together 150 students representing twenty-eight teams of bachelors, masters, and PhD students from eleven different countries across Europe, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The students represented thirty different university or military college affiliations and were judged by panels of experts in the field of cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Cyber 9/12 Project

Apr 1, 2016

The day after: Preparing to respond to national cyber crises

By J.L. Billingsley

Given that all entities are susceptible to being hacked, how will (not would) a federal government like that of the United States respond to the potential compromise of a critical asset like the Global Positioning System (GPS)? For the fourth year in a row, the Atlantic Council has been at the forefront of proactively tackling […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Cyber 9/12 Project

Mar 22, 2016

An Overview of the Fourth Annual Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge

By Brent Scowcroft Center

The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative held its fourth annual Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge on March 11 and 12, 2016. Forty teams from 25 universities participated, along with high-level judges and speakers. American University’s School of International Service hosted the event in Washington, DC.

Cybersecurity
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The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, part of the Atlantic Council Technology Programs, works at the nexus of geopolitics and cybersecurity to craft strategies to help shape the conduct of statecraft and to better inform and secure users of technology.

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